Census Says 1 In 5 Earns Poverty Wage

WASHINGTON — The number of American workers with low-paying jobs increased by nearly 50 percent to 14.4 million during the 1980s, the Census Bureau said Monday.

``There was a sharp rise between 1979 and 1990 in the proportion of year- round, full-time workers with low earnings,`` said the report. ``The rate rose from 12.1 percent in 1979 to 18 percent in 1990.``

For purposes of the study, low pay was defined as less than a poverty-level income for a family of four. In 1990, that would have meant any full-time worker earning less than $12,195 a year.

Though the report was issued without comment, the figures show that nearly one worker in five was in the low-pay category at the end of the 1980s. ``These data are the key to understanding the squeeze in which millions of working families now find themselves,`` said Isaac Shapiro of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

An earlier study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that poverty increased during the 1980s, mainly because declining wages among the poor more than offset increases in days worked.

Only 12.9 percent of low-pay workers lived below the poverty level in 1990. Many lived in families of less than four or in families with more than one wage earner.

Among the findings in the census report:

- From 1964 to 1974, the share of workers whose earnings were less than the poverty line dropped by half, from 24.1 percent to 12 percent. The share edged up to 12.1 percent in 1979, to 14.6 percent in 1984, to 16.3 percent in 1989 and to 18 percent in 1990.

- By 1990, the low-pay percentage had risen to 17.1 percent among white workers, 25.3 percent among black workers and 31.4 perce jumped from 22.9 percent in 1979 to 43.4 percent in 1990.

- Workers without a high school diploma had a 36.1 percent low-pay rate in 1990. High school graduates had a 21.6 percent rate, college graduates a 10.5 percent rate.